St. Tammany News

Less than a month after Juan Price Jr. shot his estranged wife and then her boss before killing himself at a Slidell-area swimming pool business, one of the couple's daughters decided the deaths would not be in vain.

Nicole Price decided Saturday to donate $10,000 worth of chairs, couches and beds in their vacant Slidell home to Goodwill.

Goodwill workers load up their truck with furniture and clothes that were allegedly stolen and stored in a house on Moonraker Drive in Eden Isles. (Staff Photo by Erik Sanzenbach)

It was a good deed, she thought, albeit a small one.

She was wrong.

Nicole Price was duped Saturday by two goodwill employees - Zinnell Hall, 41, and Marcella Prevost, 40, who answered the phone call and arranged a pickup time. The women arrived a day later in a U-Haul truck, one donning a Goodwill shirt, to haul off the dead couple's belongings.

The problem, authorities said, is the furniture never made it to Goodwill. Instead, the women and their two unidentified partners unloaded the furniture at Prevost's home at 130 Moonraker Drive, possibly to sell at a later date.

Hall, of 763 Walnut St., and Prevost were each booked Wednesday with felony theft, charges that could net up to 10 years in prison and $3,000 in fines if convicted, Sheriff's Office spokesman George Bonnett said. They remained in St. Tammany Parish Jail Thursday morning in lieu of a $5,000 bond.

"It was literally a gesture of goodwill to try to give these belongings to others," Strain said. "To steal from a non-profit whose goal is to help others - it's quite remarkable, and it's unfortunate."

The women's partners, Hall's boyfriend and Prevost's husband, also helped with the move but were not charged. It's unclear if they were aware of the women's intent, Strain said.

"We still have to determine what exactly they knew," Strain said. "Trust me, if we determine they had knowledge and knew what was going on, they will be charged, too."

Hall, the alleged mastermind, was the one who answered the phone and told Nicole Price that Goodwill no longer performed pickups because their hauling trucks were damaged during Hurricane Katrina. She then called back shortly thereafter and arranged for a pickup, Strain said.

Two days later Hall allegedly confessed to Goodwill employees, prompting officials to call law enforcement authorities.

Goodwill of Southern Louisiana could not be reached for comment.

It's not the first time Hall has been arrested. In February 2005, she was charged with simple battery.

In March 2007, she was charged with writing bad checks, according to St. Tammany Parish arrest records.

Robert Helmki, a neighbor living four houses from Prevost's home, said he saw Prevost show up three times in three different trucks to unload the furniture. He paid it no attention, thinking it was just another move.

"It's a big house, and they must have lots of furniture in there," Helmki said.

Then he saw the media cameras swarming the home Wednesday as news broke that Goodwill employees would remove the furniture from Prevost's home.

"It's a shame, stealing from the poor. I guess it takes all kinds," Helmki said. "It's unbelievable, but I guess anything goes these days."

The crime was another blow in what was a tragic month for the Price family.

After 30 years of marriage, Terri Price, Juan Price's estranged wife, filed for divorce in May.

Tensions seemed to have escalated, and on Aug. 20 Juan Price, armed with a pistol, gunned down Terri and her boss, Frank Maquet, at Regal Pools in the Slidell area. He then turned the gun on himself.

When deputies arrived they found Terri's body outside, blood splattered on the paved walkway as if she went to confront her husband. Inside investigators found Miquet and Price, shot to death with a single handgun blast.

To the outside world it seemed the two were happily married in their Victoria Park subdivision near Slidell.

Price worked as a coffee distributor and Terri at the pool store. They chatted up neighbors and even helped repair a neighbor's roof damaged by Hurricane Katrina.